Cambridge, Mass.-- The NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament bracket revealed Monday night pits intrastate squads University of Hartford and University of Connecticut against one another in a Philadelphia Region first round game. Sixteen seeded Hartford will play two-time defending champion and number one seed UConn at the Huskies' Gampel Pavilion on Sunday, March 20 at noon.
The America East Regular Season Champion UMBC (20-11) will also be appearing in the postseason, traveling to face University of Florida (18-14) in the Postseason WNIT on Friday at 7p.
The Hawks (17-15 record) are making their sixth NCAA Tournament appearance, all under Head Coach Jennifer Rizzotti, and second straight after earning an at-large berth last year. Hartford earned an automatic bid this year after upsetting Boston U., 65-53, last Saturday night for the 2011 America East Women's Basketball Championship title.
UConn (32-1) won the Big East Conference tournament last week for the automatic bid. The Huskies are the number one overall seed in the bracket and feature All-American and two-time Wade Trophy award winner Maya Moore who averages 22.8 points, 7.9 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game.
The 2011 season has been up and down for Hartford. The Hawks began the season 1-9 and faced one of the toughest non-conference schedules in Division I. Since then, Hartford has been hot at the right time, winning 10 of its last 11 games, including three straight to capture the conference tournament crown.
The Hawks have a balanced offense with no player averaging double-figure points and is led by senior guard Mary Silvia's 9.1 points per game from off the bench. Sophomore guard Alex Hall, averaging 7.3 points per game on the season, scored 10.3 points per game in the tournament to earn Most Outstanding Player honors. Classmate forward Ruthanne Doherty, a third-team all-conference honoree, leads the team in rebounding with 6.0 boards per game and has six double-doubles. Three of those double-doubles have come in Doherty's last four games as she has been a driving force in the Hawks' recent streak.
One interesting storyline in this match-up is that of coach vs. former player. Twelfth-year Hartford Head Coach Jennifer Rizzotti is a former UConn point guard under Huskies Head Coach Geno Auriemma. Rizzotti was the Associated Press National Player of the Year and the
Wade Trophy winner as college basketball’s outstanding senior player in
1995-96. She was part of UConn's run to the 1995 national title and undefeated season, appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Since taking over the Hawks' program, Rizzotti is 0-11 against her former coach and the Huskies.
America East teams have three wins in the NCAA Tournament over the last five years with Hartford owning two of those victories. Overall, the Hawks have a 2-5 record in the Big Dance. Hartford will enter the tournament as a 16 seed for the first time since its NCAA debut in 2002 when the Hawks fell to number one Oklahoma in Normal, Okla.
This will be the seventh straight year America East will have multiple teams in the postseason. UMBC earned a spot in the Postseason WNIT as the highest-finishing conference team not to receive in invite from the NCAA. The Retrievers are making their first-ever appearance in the WNIT and their second-ever postseason bid. Phil Stern's club received the league's autobid to the NCAA Tournament in 2007 after winning the America East Championship.
After
starting the 2010-11 season 1-5, the Retrievers won 19 of their next 24 games, matching a program-best 20 victories, before
falling to Hartford in the America East semifinal.
Florida
earned an at-large bid into the WNIT after finishing 18-14 on the season and
falling to eventual conference champion Tennessee in the SEC quarterfinals.The Gators and Retrievers have met just once before and not since 1986.